Gary Neville sends warning to Manchester United players after ‘new low’ for Ten Hag

Gary Neville has slammed Manchester United after their ‘dismal’ display against Brentford.

There was a good feeling about United before Saturday night’s game. It looked like we were ready to put pressure on the teams pushing for a Champions League spot, especially after morale was boosted before the international break with a 4-3 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup.

Highlights have been rare in Ten Hag’s second season as manager, but knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup will certainly go down as one.

However, it was a completely different story at the Gtech Community Stadium. Thomas Frank’s side registered over 30 shots, while United only managed 11 efforts. We saw Mason Mount score his first goal for the club in the 96^th minute – to make it 1-0 – but the Reds were unable to hold on. Brentford salvaged a point in the 99^th minute as defender Kristoffer Ajer struck to earn the relegation candidates a valuable draw.

The 1-1 draw is a blow to United’s top-four hopes, with Aston Villa and Tottenham both picking up three points over the weekend. That means Ten Hag’s side are 11 points adrift of Villa and eight behind Tottenham.

Former United captain Gary Neville was far from impressed with United’s performance against Brentford.

“I watched them last night and couldn’t believe really what I was watching. I thought they would put a bit of pressure on Tottenham and Villa in the run-in. It’s actually really difficult to play that badly,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast.

“Really, it is you know. I can’t think of any point in that game, maybe the first few minutes, where they did anything well at all. It was a horrible performance to the point where when Mason Mount scored, I think we may have had to start a petition to give Brentford two points back.

“It was absolute robbery. But then Brentford score. I can’t explain that performance, I’ve no idea where it comes from. Very worrying that you can go to that level of low. You know you can play badly in football, you know you sometimes don’t feel quite right.

“But that was a dismal, dismal effort in an attempt to play football, in an attempt to work as hard as you possibly can. When you give the ball away, their reaction is non-existent. They really are one of the worst teams out of possession.”